Path 2

NYPD Seek Gunmen Who Shot NYU VP’s Son

November 4, 2010

The NYPD has released surveillance photos of two men suspected of shooting a top NYU administrator’s son in a botched drug deal. Alexander Bongard (whose mother, Debra LaMorte, is the university’s chief fundraiser and leads NYU’s multi-billion dollar development campaign) was hospitalized Monday night after he and a friend were shot by two men in ski masks in what police think was a pot sale gone wrong.

“I am saddened and dismayed by what has happened to my son,” LaMorte said in a statement released by the university. “I am only focused on two things: his making a full recovery, and the NYPD catching the gunmen who shot my son.”

Bongard, 24, is a former student at NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. His pal, 31-year-old Lucas Hinde, has a history of pot-related charges, including a stint in Arizona state prison for “his alleged part in a national marijuana ring” that involved smuggling 200 pounds of weed and being re-arrested for violating his parole after “[leading] Utah cops on a wild, 130 mph chase through the desert in a car loaded with pot.”

Yesterday, the Post said Bongard was in an intensive care unit at Bellevue Hospital, and that LaMorte said he was “on the brink” and “in critical condition.”

The tabloid also claims police found enough weed for a “‘substantial’ pot-dealing operation” in Bongard’s $2,500-a-month Bleecker Street apartment, but that it’s unclear whether the district attorney’s office will file drug charges against the shooting victims.

Anyone with information with regard to the incident or suspect is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). All calls are strictly confidential.